Virtuous Cycle: Your Tax Payment Can Help a Local High School Student

The Town of Burlington Scholarship Fund, originally established in 1988 and revived in 2018, is a community-funded scholarship source for Burlington residents who are high school seniors. Not to be confused with Dollars for Scholars, the Burlington Community Scholarship Foundation, or Adopt-a-Class (which are all the same thing), these scholarships are meant to provide a bit of support to high school students who plan to continue their education at an accredited postsecondary college, university, or technical school.

Burlington residents fund this local scholarship by checking off a box and sending in additional money when they submit their excise tax or property tax payments. The laws are very specific about how the information is presented on the tax bills, and so there is little opportunity to share more information about this program on that document.

While the application process at the start of the program was not as formal, it now involves an essay and a scoring rubric, and the scholarship committee does its best to ensure equity, including having the applications blinded before they review them and making efforts to ensure that students attending private or technical schools have equal access to these scholarships.

Committee chair, Kendra Lamoretti, said they give between $10,000 and $15,000 total to around 4 to 6 students each year, though the amount given and the number of recipients depend on how much money Burlington residents have contributed with their tax statements each year.

Applications are now open for this scholarship, and all Burlington high school seniors are encouraged to apply, whether or not they attend to BHS. The application deadline is April 1 and the application and full instructions can be found here.